19 June 2024 , 12:55
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A prisoner had a “personal relationship” with a member of prison staff who he murdered before taking his own life, according to officials.
The disturbing murder-suicide took place at Georgia’s Smith State Prison over the weekend where an inmate serving a 20-year prison sentence killed a staff member before taking his own life. Aureon Shavea Grace, a 24-year-old prison employee, was shot by a voluntary manslaughter convict named Jaydrekus Hart on Sunday.
Grace had been working in the prison’s kitchen as an employee of the Aramark food service company at the time of her murder. Hart fatally shot Grace at around 4.30 a.m. before turning the gun on himself, prison officials have said. Grace was pronounced dead at the scene while Hard was taken to a local hospital where he was later also declared deceased.
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Jaydrekus Hart was serving a 20 year sentence for manslaughter (Georgia Department of Corrections)
Aureon Shavea Grace, 24, was employed at Smith State Prison kitchen in rural Georgia with the food service company Aramark (Lovett and Son’s Funeral Home)"During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that a personal relationship existed between Aramark employee Grace and offender Hart," a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) said. The official told Fox News: "A suicide note was also discovered that appears to have been left by Hart."
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The spokesperson for the GDC did not go into detail about the nature of the relationship between the two. Officials at the prison are still investigating how Hart was able to get his hands on a gun inside the prison and use it on a member of staff.
The convict was serving a 20-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter when he took his own life - he was not due to be released from jail until June 2043. The GDC said it was still investigating the murder-suicide and said that no further details on the incident were currently available.
"This was an isolated incident and the investigation remains open and active," the GDC told reporters. "We will not be able to comment further at this time as the investigation continues."
Aureon was employed at Smith State Prison kitchen in Georgia with food company Aramark (Google Maps)Aureon's family has hired attorney Malone Hart as representation, who explained the family is unaware of the extent of the pair's bond, but expressed their concern that the inmate was able to get hold of a gun in the first place. Mr Hart told WSAV3: "A firearm in the prison system is beyond me.
"The GBI is trying to say that Ms Grace was involved somehow. There's no way that she could have brought [the gun] in based on the security she has to go through. Security elsewhere that's lacking. We believe the firearm was actually brought in prior to her ever working there."
Leori Benoit, manager of the Office of Public Affairs for the Georgia Department of Corrections issued a statement in response to reports prison officials were notified of a weapon inside the prison walls before the fatal shooting. It read: "The report of a gun inside the facility was investigated by our Office of Professional Standards.
"A targeted shakedown was conducted the following morning of the report, in addition to a full facility shakedown and no leads were developed. Further, the complainant admitted to investigators that there was no gun inside the facility... This is still an active investigation."